Indigenous Knowledge of Poisonous and Medicinal Plants for Livestock among Turkmen Pastoralists in the Winter Rangelands of Maraveh-Tappeh, Golestan Province

The aim of the present study was to identify poisonous plants for livestock, signs of poisoning, indigenous methods of treatment by exploiting tribes and also to identify medicinal plants for livestock and how to use them and their healing properties. The selection of the population was a statistically responsive sample from the local communities. In this study, the respondent population consisted of Turkmen nomads in the Maravah Tappeh rangelands. In this study, purposive sampling and snowball method were used; a number of experienced exploitation nomads were selected for the initial interview. After designing the topic and gaining their trust and confidence in the research topic, the questionnaire was prepared and its validity and reliability were examined. Simultaneously with the field survey, a number of questionnaires were provided to the selected exploiting tribes. The validity of the questionnaire was calculated and determined by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for different criteria. The named plants were identified. Finally, 26 poisonous plants and 24 medicinal plants for livestock were introduced by farmers.